Cinemafile

Mike Kaspar
  • 5.0 (1)
  • Film Interviews

Cinemafile showcases the very best in independent, documentary and foreign films through our conversations with the more than 2,000 filmmakers who made them. Through Cinemafile we will do our best to bring the most interesting and accomplished filmmakers from around the world to your attention.

  1. 12h ago

    Awake, My Soul: The Story of the Sacred Harp, Co-directors Matt Hinton & Erica Hinton

    Erica and Matt Hinton's are the filmmaking team behind this endlessly fascinating documentary Awake, My Soul: The Story of the Sacred Harp. It is the first feature documentary to explore the history, music, and traditions of Sacred Harp singing, the oldest distinctively American form of music. This haunting music has survived over 200 years tucked away from sight in the rural deep South and occurs mostly at community singing events, which typically include anywhere from a dozen to a couple of hundred singers. The events, called “singings," emphasize participation over consumption since they are not generally performed for an audience. Sacred Harp singers begin each song by intoning syllables which are represented by specific “shapenotes” in their hymnal. To the casual observer, it is some foreign, unintelligible language, but to the Sacred Harp singers, it is the key that unlocks mysteries: songs of both beauty and sorrow, of life and of death, songs that cause feet to stomp and tears to flow, often at the same time. What is Sacred Harp Singing? Sacred Harp singing is a form of a cappella shape-note hymn singing that preserves some of the earliest distinctively American music. Sacred Harp has persisted for almost two centuries in the Deep South, particularly in the context of community singing events that emphasize participation over consumption, as it is not generally performed for an audience. The tradition uses shape notes, in which triangle, circle, square, and diamond shapenote heads are paired with the syllables fa, sol, la, and mi to represent the notes in the scale. Sacred Harp is one of the open secrets of American music. A New Revision - Awake, My Soul originally aired nationwide on PBS in 2008 and was been featured in TIME, Paste Magazine, NY Times, Pitchfork, SPIN and on NPR. Awake, My Soul, the 2025 Revision, is the result of the long-term desire to make the film available again for a new generation. “The original film was released at precisely the best time and worst time," according to co-director/ editor, Matt Hinton. “It was the best time because there was still a strong monoculture: if a film aired on PBS, lots of people saw it. It was also a period of physical media, so we sold tons of DVDs. But on the other hand, it was the worst time to have made a film– from the time we began production to the end of post-production, the culture was moving from standard definition to high definition, so within a year of its release, very many people owned high definition TVs. Nothing makes a standard definition film look standard like high definition.

    Awake, My Soul: The Story of the Sacred Harp, Co-directors Matt Hinton & Erica Hinton

  2. 2d ago

    A Paradise Lost - Director Laurie Sumyie

    A PARADISE LOST is the enchanting, yet harrowing tale of the yellow finch of Palila v. Hawaii, a landmark case where nature took humanity to court to stave off extinction. The film unfolds through the POV of the animated Palila called Anuenue who stood as the client in 1979 court trials. The legal battle leveraged the Endangered Species Act to protect mamane forests where 2,500 Palila competed with introduced sheep & goats. He explains how they won in court, but are still in jeopardy; in 2024, only 300 Palila remain. Today, a Native Hawaiian conservationist struggles to save them amidst escalating threats of climate change, wildfires, introduced predators, diseases, and governmental neglect. Through interviews, archival, vérité, nature footage, and animation created by artist and director, Laurie Sumiye, the film artfully weaves non-human perspectives, science, myth, and indigenous conservation insight collected over the last decade into a spellbinding fable of hope & survival. Directed by Hawaiian nature artist Laurie Sumiye, A PARADISE LOST sweeps audiences to a Pacific island wilderness straight into the struggle of Palila on Hawaii Island, journeying into misty sub-alpine forests. About the filmmaker - Laurie Sumiye is a Japanese-American artist, animator and filmmaker born and raised in Mililani, Hawaiʻi. She was selected as an inaugural Jackson Wild Multicultural Alliance Fellow in 2021, Firelight Documentary Lab Fellow in 2018-20, Sundance Institute/Women in Film Documentary Fellow in 2020, and UnionDocs Collaborative Fellow in 2010. Her short animated documentaries, STRUGGLE FOR EXISTENCE, about endangered Hawaiian birds, and OF MEMORY & LOS SURES, an oral history of a Latinx neighborhood in Brooklyn, have won awards and screened at festivals DOCNYC, BAMcinemaFest, and DOCUTAH. The film was part of an acclaimed transmedia documentary produced by UnionDocs, LIVING LOS SURES, which premiered at NYFF and exhibited at PS1MoMA. She started her career in documentary media creating artwork for PROJECT KASHMIR by Geeta V. Patel & Senain Kheshigi and MY BROOKLYN by Kelly Anderson. A PARADISE LOST is her first feature, which received funding and support from Pacific Islanders in Communications, Firelight Media, Doc Society and Blue Mountain Center, receiving their 2021 Harriet Barlow Commons Award. Laurie has an MFA in Integrated Media Arts from CUNY Hunter College and a BA in Art and BS in Communications from Bradley University, and studied art at Istituto Lorenzo de Medici in Italy. She has exhibited her artwork internationally in galleries, art fairs and museums, and been commissioned for business, nonprofit and private collections. Laurie was selected as an Artist-in-Residence at Digital Artist Studios (N. Ireland), Sacatar Institute (Brazil), Artfunkl (UK), A Studio in the Woods (New Orleans) and Bishop Museum (Hawaii). She taught filmmaking as Assistant Professor at the University of Hawaiʻi-West Oʻahu. Laurie was awarded a Sony Camera Grant and Honorable Mention at IF/Then Shorts x The Redford Center Nature Access Pitch at DOCNYC for animated short doc, MAKANA.

    A Paradise Lost - Director Laurie Sumyie

  3. 2d ago

    A Sad and Beautiful World - Director Cyril Aris

    A SAD AND BEAUTIFUL WORLD is a sweeping love story that spans three decades of friendship, passion, heartbreak, and hope. Nino, an eternal optimist, and Yasmina, an impulsive pragmatist, drawn together by a magnetic relationship. Struggling with universal choices of adult life in the extraordinary circumstances of a country constantly ravaged by war, they are confronted with an impossible choice between love and survival. They must decide if they can build a family and chart a path to happiness in Lebanon, despite the tragedies ravaging their country, or if they should seize the opportunity for reinvention far from home. “A Sad and Beautiful World” premiered at the 2025 Venice film Festival where it won the Giornate Degli Autori Audience Award, and went on to play at the BFI London Film Festival, SF International Film Festival, Sydney Film Festival, Sao Paolo FF, Red Sea Film Festival, Marrakech International Film Festival among others. It was Lebanon’s entry for the Academy Awards Best International Feature Film. About the filmmaker - Lebanese writer-director, Cyril Aris’s feature documentary The Swing (2018) premiered in Karlovy Vary. His second feature documentary Dancing on the Edge of a Volcano (2023), recipient of a grant from the Sundance Institute, premiered in the main competition of Karlovy Vary, won a special jury mention, and played in BFI, CPH DOX, DOC NYC and over 80 festivals. His short film The President’s Visit (2017) premiered at TIFF and played in over 100 festivals. He holds an MFA from Columbia University and is a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.

    A Sad and Beautiful World - Director Cyril Aris

  4. 4d ago

    Wetiko - Director Kerry Mondragon

    Director Kerry Mondragon takes us deep in the dense jungles of the Yucatan, where the air hums and the ground seems alive. A film that is destined for Midnight Movie acclaim, WETIKO follows Aapo, a young Mayan man trying to survive the modern hustle without losing his roots. When he takes a quick-cash job for his family-owned pet store delivering hallucinogenic bufo toads to a remote jungle ceremony, it feels like an easy score. One trip in, one trip out. What begins as a promise of transcendence inside a shady eco-village quickly reveals itself as something far more dangerous. Led by Zake Zezo (Neil Sandilands), a smooth-talking, bloodthirsty shaman who feeds on belief, fear and control, the ceremony peddles enlightenment to Western spiritual tourists and new age seekers. But as the powerful drugs kick in, reality fractures -- time bends, the jungle pulses, and Aapo is trapped in a hallucinatory war zone. As paranoia spikes and alliances collapse, Aapo realizes WETIKO isn’t a myth but a sickness -- greed, consumption, and spiritual rot spreading fast. Hunted, high and unraveling, he must choose whether to become another casualty -- or break the cycle before the jungle swallows him whole. About the filmmaker - Kerry Mondragon is a writer, director, and producer known for Tyger Tyger (2020) and Meet Me at a Funeral (2015). Mondragon was born and raised in the ancient haunts of the Sonoran barrios and borderlands of the Mexican desert, a landscape populated by wild poets, peyote roadmen, and saintly Mexican grandmothers. He wrote poetry at an early age and corresponded with Allen Ginsberg at age ten, until Allen's death. After his biological father left, he was raised by his mother and step-father (turned-father,) they relocated to Marin County, California where he was blasted by the culture shock of a very different world. He discovered the dark shadow side of the wealthy county - a youth scene of bullying, trauma, drugs, alcohol – and was disgusted by the spiritual pretense of their culture. Bullied out of middle school and unable to adjust to high school, he lived the life of the youth underworld of one of the nation’s wealthiest towns. Throughout, he honed his artistic skills, he dropped out of college, worked at an ad agency and used that money to jump onto a crowd-funded Spike Lee feature film where he assisted the legendary director in prep and principal photography. This served as his film school. Upon returning to California and after significant life experiences, he resolved to make something pure, honest, and true - something stripped of all Hollywood illusions that was recognizable to those still lost in the pain of addiction - something to give hope to the hopeless.

    Wetiko - Director Kerry Mondragon

  5. Jul 29

    Boutique: To Preserve and Collect - Director Ry Levey

    Director Ry Levey’s wildly entertaining documentary BOUTIQUE: TO PRESERVE AND COLLECT chronicles the remarkable resurgence of collectible Blu-ray culture and the specialty labels around the world dedicated to preserving, restoring, and reintroducing long-lost obscurities and cinematic landmarks to new generations of audiences. Featuring filmmakers, performers, label representatives, historians, collectors, and devoted fans, the documentary is a heartfelt celebration of cinephilia and the people ensuring film history remains accessible and appreciated. To coincide with the Blu-ray release, the film will embark on an accompanying theatrical tour featuring special event screenings, filmmaker discussions, and community celebrations of physical media culture. About the filmmaker - For more than two decades, Ry Levey has used innovative and original strategies to elevate the profiles of independent and international cinema throughout North America and the world with multi-pronged film marketing, distribution and PR services. A specialist in documentary, LGBTQIA+, foreign, and genre cinema, Mr. Levey has spearheaded PR for filmmakers including documentary master Frederick Wiseman, Oscar-nominee Kirby Dick, Oscar-winner Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy, Oscar-nominee Christian Frei, acclaimed documentarian Sophie Fiennes (THE PERVERT’S GUIDE TO IDEOLOGY) and Oscar nominee and Tony-winning powerhouse Julie Taymor. He has also handled theatrical distribution campaigns for films including MATT SHEPARD IS A FRIEND OF MINE, MINE 9, VIOLET, DRONE, SLEEPLESS IN NEW YORK, NOWHERE TO HIDE, TWO LOVERS AND A BEAR and THE CREEPING GARDEN. He also brings a keen insight as a filmmaker himself, under his RBL Films production banner, having produced and directed the multi-award-winning documentary OUT IN THE RING and the upcoming BOUTIQUE: TO PRESERVE AND COLLECT.

    Boutique: To Preserve and Collect - Director Ry Levey

  6. Jul 29

    Louder Than Guns - Director Doug Pray

    In the wake of yet another mass shooting, this time at The Covenant School in Nashville, Ketch Secor, lead singer of the popular country-bluegrass band Old Crow Medicine Show, decided it was time to speak out on gun reform. He wrote an op-ed in the New York Times entitled, “Country Music Can Lead America Out of Its Obsession with Guns.” It caught the attention of Ketch’s friend, David Greene, former NPR reporter and host of KCRW’s “Left, Right & Center,” and the two set out to kickstart an open dialog about gun rights and gun violence in America. Film director Doug Pray followed Ketch and David as the band toured rural and urban communities, creating the documentary LOUDER THAN GUNS named after a song Ketch wrote for the victims of the Covenant shooting. Smashing stereotypes, LOUDER THAN GUNS brings together the frustrations and hopes of citizens who are asked to listen to one another and try to find common ground. About the filmmaker - Doug Pray’s candid portraits of American subcultures and maverick individuals have led him to numerous festivals, critical raves, and awards. His feature documentary films include “Love, Lizzo” (HBO Max), “Big Rig” (a 21,000-mile road film about independent truck drivers), and the Emmy Award-winning “Art & Copy.” His first two films, “Hype!” the definitive story of the Seattle music scene, and “Scratch,” about DJs and the birth of hip-hop, are ranked among the best music docs of all time. In television, Doug executive produced Netflix’s 3-part series, “Arnold,” about Arnold Schwarzenegger; he won a Grammy for Best Music Film (plus 5 Emmy nominations) for his work as executive producer, writer and editor of HBO’s “The Defiant Ones.” He also executive produced “From Cradle to Stage” with Dave Grohl and the popular AppleTV+ series “Home.” Doug was born in Denver, raised in Wisconsin, and lives in Los Angeles.

    Louder Than Guns - Director Doug Pray

  7. Jul 29

    Black Chariot - Director Robert Goodwin

    Robert Goodwin wrote, produced, and directed this lost gem of American independent cinema. Opening during a tense meeting between members of an underground Black Power group that leads to a stunning foot chase, Goodwin’s film weaves past and present to tell the story of the social awakening of a character only referred to as “the drifter” (screen legend Bernie Casey in his first starring role!). Shot on both 35mm and video and boasting a fierce, early performance from L.A. Rebellion icon Barbara O. Jones, Black Chariot is a fascinatingly iconoclastic revelation. Though world-premiered at the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium in 1971, Black Chariot has remained under-screened for decades — until now. Film distributor Kino Lorber is releasing the 4K Restoration by the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History & Culture (NMAAHC) with funding from the National Film Preservation Foundation. Additional funding provided by NMAAHC’s Earl W. and Amanda Stafford Center for African American Media Arts. The all new 4K Restoration of Black Chariot opens at Anthology Film Archives in New York on July 10th before expanding the all new 4K Restoration of Black Chariot opens at Anthology Film Archives in New York on July 10th before expanding to select theaters nationwide.

    Black Chariot - Director Robert Goodwin

  8. Jul 28

    Time and Water - Director Sara Dosa

    Renowned Icelandic poet and author Andri Snær Magnason is chasing something elusive. As the glacial ice of his homeland melts, he constructs a cinematic time capsule to hold onto this moment and send it to the future, before everything he loves slips away. Using his own collected archives, his grandparents’ photographs, and films, as well as traditional songs and folktales, Andri interlaces his family’s story with that of the land around him. From Academy Award®-nominated director Sara Dosa, TIME AND WATER is a universal reflection on the power of home and what it means to be alive amid profound epochal change. Oscar nominated (Fire of Love) director Sara Dosa joins us to talk about her frighteningly relevant clarion call to action. About the filmmaker - Sara Dosa is an Oscar®-nominated nonfiction filmmaker whose work centers on the human relationship with more-than-human nature. The films she has directed, “Fire of Love” (2022), “The Seer & The Unseen” (2019) and “The Last Season” (2015), have won numerous awards, including a Peabody and the Directors’ Guild of America Award, and were nominated for over 40 awards, including an Academy Award, BAFTA, Emmy and an Independent Spirit Award. Dosa’s work has been shown at festivals worldwide, including Sundance, SXSW, New Directors/New Films, CPH:DOX and Visions du Réel, and has screened in partnership with museums such as the MOMA, BAMPFA and the Louvre. In 2018, Dosa was named to the inaugural class of DOCNYC’s “40 under 40” and inducted into the Academy of Motion Pictures’ documentary branch. She graduated from Wesleyan University with a double major in sociology and anthropology and has a joint master’s in anthropology and international development studies from the London School of Economics and Political Science. Dosa lives and works in California.

    Time and Water - Director Sara Dosa
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About

Cinemafile showcases the very best in independent, documentary and foreign films through our conversations with the more than 2,000 filmmakers who made them. Through Cinemafile we will do our best to bring the most interesting and accomplished filmmakers from around the world to your attention.

Information

  • Creator
    Mike Kaspar
  • Years Active
    2025 - 2026
  • Episodes
    236
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © Copyright 2026 Mike Kaspar
  • Show Website
    Cinemafile

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